Mrs. Graham's 2nd Grade Blog 2016-2017

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020

As we have been planning for remote learning for the rest of the year, we have worked as a team and as a building to prioritize key concepts and skills to cover in these final weeks. We wanted to share these main learning targets with you to help you prioritize what your child should focus on at home.

That said, we continue to believe that the social emotional needs of your child and your family are the very most important right now! Please use the following information as a reference, but continue to give yourself the flexibility to adjust the learning opportunities to meet the needs of your child and your family situation.

LITERACY PRIORITIES:

Read, Read, Read!

By far, the most research supported thing you can be doing is encouraging your child to read texts at their "just right" level everyday.

Encourage correct spelling of no excuse/sight words and use of spelling patterns

Third grade has said that having students practice writing about their reading is one of the most helpful things we can do to prepare the students, but any authentic writing opportunities are great (pen pal letters, journaling, etc)

Saturday, April 4, 2020

What an interesting time this is! I am so thankful to have such a resilient group of students and supportive group of families. We will work through this new and uncharted territory together!

Here is some important information to keep track of:

Click hereto go to the google site for morning message, check in, and parent resources. This is a home base for all of second grade. It is a great place for supplemental resources, check ins for students, and more.

Google Classroom (different from our site) is our home base for our specific learning opportunities and videos. You have done a great job navigating through our google classroom so far!

We will continue to utilize Zoom for occasional morning meetings, check ins, etc. I will send out a new invitation for each zoom meeting we have. You don't need a sign in, just click the link I send. Just be sure that students click to turn on both the video and audio features.

Please email me throughout the day with any questions or technical difficulties and I will see how we can work through them!

Sunday, March 1, 2020

READING:We are in our Reading Unit Called Bigger Books Mean Amping Up Reading Power. During this Unit we built the following charts to anchor our thinking when reading:

We will conclude this unit by launching Book Clubs. Students will understand club member behaviors. They will create a plan, set goals and work together to accomplish their goals.

WRITING:

Our current writing unit is Narrative Writing. During this unit students will write short stories based on true events from their lives. By the end of the unit students will be able to:

Discover small moments that matter-generating ideas

Generate tiny topics for writing

Stretch out small moments- learning to plan a story by touching each page and saying what they will write

Write a good beginning, middle and end

Write with detail: Magnifying a small moment

Bring characters to life by using talk, feel or actions

Set goals and make plans for writing time

Use checklist to self assess and plan for next parts

Close Reading: Looking closely at how mentor authors write and trying it

Collaborate a partner to help make a story better (revise by listening)

Choose strong words to help a reader visualize

Revise and edit rough drafts

Conventions are always a big emphasis:

Capital at the beginning of each sentence, for the word ‘I’, and proper nouns

Punctuation at the end of each sentence

Quotation marks when using dialogue

MATH:

Students are refining their addition and subtraction strategies, including solving story problems, and working towards accurate and efficient strategies that can be generalized to greater numbers. We will continue to focus on the mathematical practices of precision, making sense of problems, and persevering to solve them and constructing viable arguments to explain our mathematical thinking. We will also begin to investigate graphs and data in conjunction with our Tech project.

Over the next few weeks, students will:

Add and subtract one and two digit numbers using models to help them visualize the regrouping concept.

Use drawings, equations and models to solve one and two-step addition & subtraction problems.

Collect, represent and interpret data using line plots, bar graphs and pictographs.

Please continue to review your child’s daily math worksheets and practice fact fluency using the flash cards that were sent home last fall.

SCIENCE:In science, we will continue our unit on weather. During this unit, students will:

Conducting weather experiments

Observing changes in weather over time

Becoming familiar with instruments meteorologists use to monitor weather conditions

Exploring the various types of clouds and the the weather they bring

Gaining an understanding of the water cycle

Gaining an understanding of how weather and changing seasons impact people, animals, and plants

Gathering and analyzing data on the weather in different locations and in different seasons

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Friday, February 14th- No School (Professional Development for Teachers)

Monday, February 17th- No School Presidents Day

VALENTINE PARTY:We will have our class Valentine party on Thursday, February 13th. Children are welcome to create a Valentine’s Day Box to collect Valentines in. Please make sure that the opening on the box will fit a card with candy attached (if families choose to do that). If your child chooses to make a valentine for students in our class, please make sure that you bring one valentine for every student in the class. A class list will be sent home. Please also be on the lookout for a party SignUp.

1st and 2nd Grade Specials Program:At Gold Rush Elementary we believe that the arts serve an essential role in helping Our 1st and 2nd Grade Specials Showcase is a way to highlight some of the important learning happening in their specials classes. Each year at GRE the first and second grade students explore a theme during their Art, Music and PE classes and then have the opportunity to share their learning with parents and invited guests. Each performance will last about 30 minutes

Please look for your child's class above and save the date and time. Since there will be two different performances on each night, parents and students are asked to arrive only 15 minutes prior to the performance.

CURRICULUM UPDATE

READING:In this next reading unit, a major focus is on reading fluency as they encounter longer texts. Students will focus on reading in phrases with appropriate expression, at a just right pace. Students will also pay attention to literary language in texts. They will notice when an author plays with words or uses comparisons. We will explore some poetry as we dig into literary language. As students encounter longer texts, it is important that they “hold on” to the different parts of the text so they are able to understand the book as a whole. Continuing to jot thoughts down on sticky notes, sharing ideas with a partner, and rereading are critical reading behaviors. Students will continue to set goals and monitor those goals.

We conclude this unit by launching Book Clubs. Students will understand club member behaviors. They will create a plan, set goals and work together to accomplish their goals.

WRITING:We are now moving into Narrative Writing. During this unit students will write short stories based on true events from their lives. By the end of the unit students will be able to:

Discover small moments that matter-generating ideas

Tiny Topics- using a notebook to remember topics for writing

Stretching out small moments- learning to plan a story by touching each page and saying what they will write

Writing a good beginning, middle and end

Writing with detail: Magnifying a small moment

Bringing characters to life by using talk, feel or actions

Setting goals and making plans for writing time

Using checklist to self assess and plan for next parts

Close Reading: Looking closely at how mentor authors write and trying it

Collaborate a partner to help make a story better (revise by listening)

Word choice

Revising and editing rough drafts

Conventions are a big emphasis:

Capital at the beginning of each sentence, for the word ‘I’, and proper nouns

Punctuation at the end of each sentence

Quotation marks when using dialogue

MATH:We are continuing to learn subtraction strategies, with an emphasis on developing fluency to 100. In addition to subtraction, we will continue to focus on the mathematical practices of precision, making sense of problems and persevering to solve them and constructing viable arguments to explain our mathematical thinking. Over the next few weeks, students will:

Subtract one and two digit numbers using models to help them visualize the regrouping concept.

Subtract using partial differences

Solve one and two-step subtraction problems.

Please continue to review your child’s daily math worksheets and practice fact fluency using the flash cards that were sent home last fall.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

READING/SOCIAL STUDIESAs readers, we will be doing an integrated 3 week mini-unit that will help us grow as readers and historians. We will hone all the great non-fiction reading strategies we built in the last unit as we read biographies to learn about important people and how they impacted our world. Determining importance, asking questions as we read, and learning strategies to synthesize our learning will be a big part of our mission as readers. We will also learn to think like a historian, using and creating timelines, examining multiple sources, and considering how a person can impact their community or world. We will be creating some great projects to share our learning towards the end of the month.

WRITINGWe will wrap up our Informational Writing Unit during the first few weeks of January, In this final bend, students will plan and write their own “how to” chapter books, incorporating science content, along with strategies to write books that teach. Some of our teaching points will include:

Planning with a Table of Contents

Drafting and Revising With Feedback

Studying Mentor Texts

Using Comparison

Going Deeper to Incorporate Science Writing

Addressing an Audience with Strong Introductions and Conclusions

Editing with a Checklist

MATHIn Topic 5, students will learn various strategies to subtract within 100. We will build upon previously taught addition strategies to fluently subtract within 100. During this unit students will be focusing on the following:

Using place value (tens and ones) to subtract

Using an open number line to subtract tens and ones within 100

Subtracting 2 digit numbers using models

Subtracting and breaking apart numbers using mental math and compensation

WORD WORK/SPELLINGIt is so exciting to see the progress students are making in their spelling. Students were given a spelling inventory before Thanksgiving break and some students moved into different groups based on the results of their assessment, weekly spelling test scores, and spelling quizzes. Spelling groups were formed based on their understanding of spelling patterns and their regular application of these patterns in both their spelling tests and daily writing. Please continue to support your child by making sure that their word sorts are practiced daily along with the 5 “No Excuse Words” and challenge word of the week. Using the sorts throughout the week helps your child develop the spelling pattern they are working on for the week.

Students return to school on Tuesday, January 7th. Have a wonderful winter break!

THANK YOU!Thank you for your generous contribution to our classroom library through the purchase of a new book at the Scholastic Book Fair. The books you purchased have added more great books for our students to enjoy! Thank you!

HOLIDAY PARTYWe will have our class holiday party on Thursday, December 19th. We will be having a simple celebration and a book exchange. A letter regarding our holiday party will be sent home in your child’s Homework Folder.

ELEMENTARY PROGRESS REPORTS-FIRST SEMESTER

Progress reports are available for parent viewing on Saturday, December 22rd. Log on to your parent portal to view your child’s progress report. You will also find a first semester wrap up of your child’s academic learning in second grade. Please take the time to read all the learning, growth and success we have had thus far in second grade. The following rating system is used to determine your child's level of performance:

ExceedsIndicates a high level of achievement. It indicates a student has a strong understanding of the content/concepts/skills taught and it implies a student can demonstrate understanding independently and with very few errors.

MeetsIndicates that a student demonstrates an understanding of content/concepts/skills most of the time and with limited support. Students who are meeting standards make few major errors or omissions when demonstrating a concepts or skill.

ApproachingIndicates that a student requires moderate support to demonstrate an understanding of concepts/skills. Students' ability to demonstrate their understanding of a concept or skill is inconsistent or infrequent, which indicates a partial understanding of the content, concept or skill. Students demonstrate more frequent errors or omissions.

Does Not MeetStudents who do not meet standards seldom demonstrate an understanding of concepts and skills taught. The student requires considerable support to demonstrate learning and makes frequent major errors when demonstrating his/her understanding.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

READINGDuring Reader’s Workshop we are entering the last part of our non-fiction unit, centered around reading across a topic. We are going to dig deeply into a self-selected topic where we are excited to grow our schema by reading and researching multiple sources across a topic. In addition to our non-fiction reading skills we continue to work on reading fluency, building stamina as a reader, and making sure that we are working with a book that we can read with 98% accuracy.

WRITING:We are continuing our work with writing scientifically, writing lab reports and ending with “how to” writing. Below are important parts of writing that we are working on:

Writing as scientists do

Procedural writing

Designing and writing about an experiment(s)

Constructing question(s), writing a hypothesis, writing explicit procedures, sharing results and writing a conclusion that refers back to our hypothesis.

Plan informational books

Integrating scientific information into our writing

Using checklist/rubrics to self assess and plan for next parts

MATH:

We are continuing with our work in Math Topic 4, focusing on addition strategies to fluently add within 100. During these units students will be focusing on the following:

Using place value (tens and ones) to add and subtract

Using an open number line to add tens and ones within 100

Adding 2 digit numbers using models

Adding and breaking apart numbers using mental math and partial sums

Modeling one and two step problems

Selecting the most efficient strategy to solve a math problem

We have also started our Friday Flex Math groups! On Fridays, we are now grouping the students across the second grade classrooms for math instruction and enrichment at their level. We are excited for this opportunity to reteach and extend our math content in a different way. These groups are flexible; the groupings may change as our math focus areas shift during the year. We had a lot of fun trying this out today, and we believe this will be a beneficial opportunity for all of our mathematicians!

It is so exciting to see the progress students are making in their spelling! Spelling groups are formed based on their understanding and application of spelling patterns on weekly assessments, comprehensive assessments, and use in their authentic writing In addition to our weekly test, students were given a comprehensive spelling inventory the last week in November. For most students, our assessments showed that they are progressing at the appropriate pace with their current spelling group. For some students, after Winter Break you may notice they will be repeating sorts or moving to a new sort level if our assessments showed the need for an instructional shift. Please continue to support your child by making sure that their word sorts are practiced daily along with the 5 “No Excuse Words” and challenge word of the week. Using the sorts throughout the week helps your child develop, concretely, the spelling pattern they are working on for the week. The last week in December we will have a “no excuse word” quiz, but there will be no word sorts that week.

SCIENCE:In science, we are continuing our work with Force and Motion. We have been conducting some experiments and building our background knowledge about friction, gravity, force and motion. We will also be working with Mrs. Fleet on lego building and how force, motion, pushes and pulls all affect the way objects move. To wrap up our understanding of force and motion, students will be creating their own toy that moves. Please see the donation list for ways you can help us gather supplies for this fun, creative science project!

WORD WORK/SPELLING:Your child has had several weeks of getting into our routine of Word Work and Spelling. Please continue to do the daily practice activities with your child. The important thing is that your child learns to identify the pattern (through sorting) and transfer the pattern into their daily writing.

MATH:We will be wrapping up our Envision topic on measurement. In Topic 12, students are estimating, measuring precisely with inches, centimeters, yards, and meters, and comparing units. This unit aligns with our work as scientists studying force and motion.

After finishing Topic 12, we will begin Topic 4. In Topic 4 we will build upon previously taught addition strategies to fluently add within 100.During these units students will be focusing on the following: